Adilabad police was sent into a tizzy by the Railways officials working in Nanded Division following a call received by Superintendent of Police Vishnu S. Warrier around 11.30 p.m. from some Railway official informing him that the Purna-Adilabad passenger train hit a lorry and got derailed between Khodad and Umram villages about 12 km from the district headquarters town.
Within 20 minutes not only was the information cross-checked but about 100 policemen led by two DSPs and four Inspectors arrived at the spot and started scanning the area for the derailed train. The exercise went on for four hours, from midnight to 4 a.m., before it dawned upon the chagrined policemen that it was a ‘hoax’ call and supposed to be a mock drill to test preparedness of the district police in tackling emergencies.
The Railway officers were an amused lot until of course they were presented in front of Superintendent of Police Vishnu S. Warrier who reportedly gave them a dressing down later in the day. The police department is miffed at the fact that a mock drill cannot be conducted without the knowledge of top police officials.